hrooke@resourcelawasia.com
Tel: +65 6805 7358
Hagen Rooke
Director
Hagen has extensive experience advising on financial regulatory matters. His practice covers a broad range of areas, including financial services licensing and approvals, conduct of business and regulatory change projects. His clients include banks, payment services firms, digital asset exchanges and dealers, capital markets intermediaries, funds and fund managers, exchanges, proprietary trading houses and commodity groups.
With extensive experience of engaging with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and other regulators, and of practising in Asia and Europe, Hagen provides strategically valuable advice and has a unique understanding of the international issues and synergies that are relevant to clients.
Leading a practice in Singapore that has a particular focus on FinTech, payment services and digital assets, Hagen has a wealth of experience in matters relating to digital asset exchanges, dealers and custodians, e-money issuance, money transfer and remittance services, merchant acquisition and payment systems. He is a sought-after adviser, speaker and writer on matters relating to distributed ledger technology, blockchain platforms, tokenisation and DeFi (decentralised finance).
Chambers Fintech describes Hagen as a specialist who is “on the pulse for anything FinTech and crypto-related“, and further notes him as being “an absolute standout” whose advice is always “concise, prompt and thoughtful“.
Professional Admissions / Qualifications
- Singapore (s.36B Legal Profession Act, permitted areas of law only)
- England & Wales
Languages
- English
Payment Services
- Assisting a range of cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency OTC dealers, managers of cryptocurrency funds and digital asset custodians on their licensing position and conduct obligations
- Advising stablecoin issuers on the features, structure and regulatory treatment of their stablecoins
- Advising merchant acquisition and money transfer businesses on their regulatory position
- Drafting account terms and conditions for a bank providing safeguarding services to payment services firms
Fintech and digital services
- Advising a digital securities exchange on its MAS sandbox application and drafting its exchange rulebook
- Advising a global insurance group on the setup and licensing of a digital insurance distribution hub
- Delivering an extensive training workshop to an international bank on the legal and regulatory treatment of application programme interfaces (APIs)
- Advising on, and drafting the contractual documentation for, major e-commerce and payment services collaborations between banks and technology companies
Regulatory licensing and approvals
- Assisting banks, capital markets intermediaries, financial advisers and payment services firms with their licence applications to the MAS
- Advising on MAS approval and notification requirements relating to the change in control of banks, capital markets intermediaries, insurers, insurance intermediaries, financial advisers and payment services firms
- Assisting operators of trading platforms with their applications to the MAS for approval as recognized market operators (RMOs)
- Advising global commodity trading groups on their Singapore licensing position and OTC derivatives reporting obligations
Conduct of Business and Governance
- Advising a US-based banking group on the routing of its global FX trading, custody, securities agency lending and other services through Singapore in light of Brexit
- Drafting terms of business for the Singapore branch of an international private bank
- Drafting a global compliance manual for an international private equity group
- Advising an international fund manager on its Singapore governance and board composition requirements